Services Set For Dorothy Tsonis At St. Michael’s

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Category: Obituaries

Created on Wednesday, 28 December 2016 13:19

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Services have been scheduled for Dorothy Logore Tsonis, a member of St. Michael’s Cathedral and a longtime Sitka resident.

A memorial  will be held 7 p.m. tonight at the cathedral, and a Divine Liturgy will be held there 9:30 a.m. Thursday, with burial at noon at the Russian Cemetery.

Dorothy Logore Tsonis was born Jan. 1, 1941, in Washington Heights on Manhattan Island in New York City. Her family often teased her that thousands had gathered to welcome her birth on New Year’s Day that year.

She entered Queens College and began work toward her baccalaureate degree, but ultimately earned her bachelor of arts degree at Sheldon Jackson College, where she worked in food service, moving toward her goal “three credits at a time,” and reaching it in 2003.

After the tragic, catastrophic fire that destroyed 17 structures including St. Michael’s Cathedral  in downtown Sitka in 1966, she came to Sitka with her husband, Father Anastasy “Ernie” Tsonis, at the invitation of then-Bishop Theodosius (Lazor) to begin the effort to rebuild  historic St. Michael’s Cathedral.

Dorothy loved Sitka, and after moving to Wisconsin in 1969 she returned in 1978 and spent the rest of her life here.

Fluent in French since high school, Dorothy had an encyclopedic mind, remembering personalities and historic events with clarity and detail, especially anything and anyone related to her half-century in Sitka.

She prayerfully and joyfully attended services at the Cathedral until just days before she was forced to seek medical attention in Seattle, where she died unexpectedly on Dec. 21.

She was preceded in death by her husband. She is survived by her daughter, Maria, also of Sitka, and her son, Andrew, of San Francisco, who has returned for the burial services.

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